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Process Safety Approach for Reviewing Critical Controls on Tailings Storage Facilities

Tailings and Mine Waste Conference (2023 : Vancouver, B.C.); University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

Forensic studies from notable tailings storage facility (TSF) failures reveal lack of recognition of defects, and also failure to identify issues in operational practices, performance monitoring, and managing change, and a lack of review by subject matter experts. The company employs a process safety approach to manage tailings management risks. Within this overarching framework, corporate standards, guidelines and procedures are followed, a line-of-defense governance model has been implemented, and sites report monthly on critical control performance of their TSFs. This paper discusses the critical control report (CCR) process developed as part of the process safety framework to help identify deviations from normal conditions in a proactive manner, while ensuring that other elements of the governance framework are in effect to support risk management. Initially, the CCR process was established with four categories of control which, through continuous improvement, have been expanded to six categories, with reporting levels clearly defined to support understanding of the state of the facility from a risk perspective, and with reporting conducted on a monthly snapshot basis. Lessons learned from initial implementation and use of the process are also provided.

Text

2023-12-08

Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/86818

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/